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Yemenis are starving

· ​A daily nightmare for more than 18 million people ·

Oct. 17, 2018

More than 18 million people are starving in Yemen. A report
issued by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) has stated in no uncertain terms
that this is the most serious food crisis in the world at this time. If the
situation persists, the agency estimates that another 3.5 million will soon be
starving as well.

Due to the war and the worsening economic crisis, two out of
five Yemenis do not know where their next meal will come from. Between 2017 and
2018, the number of persons starving in this country increased by 25%.
The WFP maintains that if a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Yemen is
not found, the nightmare of this famine will worsen, and the Yemeni people will
be unable to survive. The WFP is asking the international community to
intervene.

The UN has always ranked Yemen among the poorest countries in
the world and the bloody conflict that has been going on for almost three years
has only made the situation worse. Yemen’s currency has lost 180% of its value
in these three years while the cost of food products has risen 35% in the last
twelve months. This prevents many families from eating properly.

Last September, the World Food Programme provided an emergency
food distribution to 225,000 inhabitants of the port city of Hodeidah, where in
recent months the conflict has intensified. Approximately 570,000 people have
fled the city because of the fighting between the government military and the
Houthi rebels. In the past, about 80% of humanitarian aid and goods transited
through this port. Now, it is closed.